RIVERSIDE: Islands lands at The Barn

After a sold-out show featuring Of Montreal and Wild Moccasins last week, The Barn at UC Riverside continues its concert series on Wednesday night with indie rock band Islands.

The band released its fifth album, âSki Mask,â in the fall, complete with a mockumentary featuring Michael Cera and Bill Hader.

Islands leader Nick Thorburn answered a few questions via email about what the band has been up to.

Q: Every album from Islands has a different sonic tapestry, but âSki Maskâ has some threads from your previous work in the music. How do you think the songs and the sound of âSki Maskâ bridge where Islands has been and where the band is going? Because your body of work has had such different flavors, how do you go about forming a set list?

A: The songs on Ski Mask bridge the catalogue for exactly the reason you mentioned.

We found the through-line between all the albums. You could argue that there is a cohesive sound to each previous record. Armâs Way was doing a bit of orchestral psych-pop or whatever; Return to the Sea was doing more of a breezy Calypso thing; Vapours was doing a throwback electronic record with an emphasis on drum machine, programming and synthesizers, while A Sleep & A Forgetting was a contemplative singer songwriter âblue-eyed soulâ attempt. Ski Mask draws on all those sounds throughout the record. I think itâs a good entry point and it makes doing a setlist much more fluid. Songs across our discography can easily be grafted onto the new ones.

Q: Have any of the older songs morphed in the live set over the years?

A: Iâm always reworking old songs, mostly on a very small scale. We embellish the dynamics of the piece, bringing out the arrangements even more than when we were in the studio, and my playing has (Iâd like to think) improved over the years, allowing me to flesh out my guitar-playing and also my singing.

Q: How did you end up working with Michael Cera on the mockumentary? All of the guest stars are great â" how did those come about?

A: Michael is an old friend. Through him, I met Derek Waters, who directed the mockumentary. Derek is a very funny writer and comedian (he created Drunk History) and expressed interest in collaborating. I had the notion to loop in Michael, who had recently started Jash, a comedy collective. Derek put the whole thing together on a very loose idea I had about a Classic Albums/Behind the Music type thing. He wrote it in a day and corralled all the funny people lickety split. He gets things done like that.

Q: Whatâs your favorite mockumentary?

A: âSpinal Tapâ is not only my favorite mockumentary hands down but itâs maybe one of my favorite films of all time. I will be able to re-watch that movie till the end of time. âWaiting for Guffmanâ is a close second.

Q: What has been your most âThis Is Spinal Tapâ moment?

A: A recent Spinal Tap moment (there are loads) would have to be when we played Madison Wisconsin in October of 2013 on game day. It was a college show, and there happened to be a college football game on that day, so the town was overrun with drunken football fans. When we showed up to soundcheck, the venue was still a beer hall, filled with sallow, dour fans (their team lost) who were lounging around. The show turned out fine, but for a second, it seemed like we were going to play to a room full of jocks with foam fingers.

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